2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer season

The 2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer season was the 40th season of NCAA championship women's college soccer.

New programs

 * On November 27, 2017, it was announced that, in 2020, the Tritons of the University of California, San Diego, located in the San Diego, California district of La Jolla, would begin the transition from Division II to Division I as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego and the Big West canceled fall sports in 2020 and they did not play a make-up season in the spring of 2021. Therefore, the fall of 2021 was the first season for the Tritons in Division I women's soccer.
 * On July 15, 2020, after months of consideration, the NCAA granted the highly unusual request of the University of St. Thomas to move directly from Division III to Division I. The school had already accepted an invitation to join the Summit League, and the Tommies entered Division I and Summit League competition in 2021.

Conference realignment
In addition to these schools moving divisions, the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference divided into divisional play for the first time.

Major upsets
In this list, a "major upset" is defined as a game won by a team ranked 10 or more spots lower or an unranked team that defeats a team ranked No. 15 or higher.

All rankings are from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

Major player of the year awards

 * Hermann Trophy: Jaelin Howell, Florida State
 * TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award: Mikayla Colohan, BYU

Other major awards

 * United Soccer Coaches College Coach of the Year: Jennifer Rockwood
 * Bill Jeffrey Award: Lesle Gallimore
 * Jerry Yeagley Award:
 * Mike Berticelli Award: Deborah Raber
 * NCAA Tournament MVP: Offensive: Yujie Zhao Defensive: Cristina Roque